Method and apparatus for generating a menu display

Abstract

A method of generating a menu display ( 203 ), the method comprising the steps of: selecting a plurality of menu items ( 205 — 1, 205 — 2, 205 — 3, 205 — 4 ) from a plurality of candidate menu items, the candidate menu items being arranged in a plurality of hierarchical levels, on the basis of most frequently used menu items and most difficult to access menu items within the plurality of hierarchical levels; and displaying the selected menu items simultaneously.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of generating a menu display, the method comprising:
 weighting each menu item of a main display of menu items arranged in a plurality of hierarchical levels on a basis of frequency of use and a degree of difficulty of access of the menu items within said plurality of hierarchical levels based on level depth of one of the menu items within said plurality of hierarchical levels, wherein the degree of difficulty of accessing any given menu item increases in proportion to the depth of the respective menu item within the plurality of hierarchical levels; 
 accessing a plurality of candidate menu items from the main display of menu items including selecting a plurality of menu items for display on the basis of said weighting; 
 displaying the main display of menu items along with a link menu of selected accessed candidate menu items, the menu items selected for display based on said weighting; and 
 repeating the step of weighting each menu item and, in response, updating the menu items selected for display. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein weighting each menu item comprises maintaining a count of use of each menu item, and wherein accessing the plurality of candidate menu items is based on menu items having at least the highest counts of use. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: continually accessing and displaying the plurality of candidate menu items. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 storing said weighted menu items in a storage device; and 
 continuously updating content of said storage device. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the step of storing said weighted menu items in a storage device comprises time stamping each menu item, and wherein the step of continuously updating content of said storage device comprises replacing the oldest menu items with new menu items. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the step of weighting each menu item comprises the step of storing a number of entries of each menu item in said storage device, wherein the number of stored entries of each menu item is dependent on the hierarchal level of each menu item. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 6 , including selecting menu items for display from the main display of menu items having at least the highest number of entries in the storage device. 
     
     
       8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform:
 weighting each menu item of a main display of menu items arranged in a plurality of hierarchical levels on a basis of frequency of use and a degree of difficulty of access of the menu items within said plurality of hierarchical levels based on level depth of one of the menu items within said plurality of hierarchical levels, wherein the degree of difficulty of accessing any given menu item increases in proportion to the depth of the respective menu item within the plurality of hierarchical levels; 
 accessing a plurality of candidate menu items from the main display of menu items including selecting a plurality of menu items for display on the basis of said weighting; 
 displaying the main display of menu items along with a link menu of selected accessed candidate menu items selected based on greatest frequency of use and greatest depth in the plurality of hierarchical levels; and 
 repeating the weighting of each menu item and, in response, updating the menu items selected for display. 
 
     
     
       9. An apparatus configured to generate a menu display comprising:
 a processor configured to:
 weight each menu item of a main display of menu items arranged in a plurality of hierarchical levels on a basis of frequency of use and a degree of difficulty of access of the menu items within said plurality of hierarchical levels based on level depth of one of the menu items within said plurality of hierarchical levels, wherein the degree of difficulty of accessing any given menu item increases in proportion to the depth of the respective menu item within the plurality of hierarchical levels; and 
 access a plurality of candidate menu items from the main display of menu items including selecting a plurality of menu items for display on the basis of said weighting; and 
 repeat the weighting of each menu item and, in response, updating the menu items selected for display; and 
 
 a driver configured to drive a display to display the main display of menu items along with a link menu of accessed candidate menu items selected based on said weighting. 
 
     
     
       10. The apparatus according to  claim 9  further comprising a storage device for storing a plurality of entries of menu items based on greatest frequency of use and greatest difficulty to access within said plurality of hierarchical levels, wherein said processor selects menu items for display along with the link menu having the highest number of entries in the storage device. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is a user interface device. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the menu items are selected for display based on being in the deepest layers of the hierarchy. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the menu items are selected for display based on being the most frequently used menu items.